The Villages booms, drawing thousands of new residents

(Stephen M. Dowell, Orlando…)

10:01 p.m. EST, April 6, 2012|

By Eloísa Ruano González, Orlando Sentinel

THE VILLAGES — This bustling retirement community northwest of Orlando could not be more different from the oil boomtown Williston, N.D. However, the two places have one thing in common: They're luring a whole lot of new residents.

The Villages and surrounding Sumter County experienced strong growth from 2010 to 2011, with a 4.6 percent population increase. That ranked the age-restricted community No. 2 on the Census Bureau's new list of fastest-growing "micro" communities, which are urban-style pockets outside of larger metro areas. It came in second to the Williston area, whose population soared by 8.8 percent.

The sunshine, golf and peace of mind encouraged Ray Banks and his fiancée last year to leave Long Island, N.Y., and move into the retiree haven.

"Whatever you want is here," said Banks, 60. For him, that's golf. He has dozens of golf courses to choose from, he said. Banks, who has been teeing off for 40 years, often plays five to six days a week — a luxury he didn't have in New York.

"They offer so many amenities here, but the biggest [perk] is security," he added. For example, it's safe to jog in the wee hours of the morning without fear of being mugged, and neighbors are always looking out for one another, said Banks, who recently became a director of the Property Owners' Association of The Villages Inc.

Between 2010 and 2011, The Villages area grew by 4,336 residents, bringing its estimated population to 97,756, according to a Census spokesman.

Home sales are booming, said Elaine Dreidame, president of the property owners' association. Had the housing market improved elsewhere in the country, Dreidame said more retirees would have been able to sell their homes and move to The Villages to make it the nation's fastest-growing micro area. After all, she points out there aren't too many communities where residents will find thousands of clubs to join, such as archery, bagpipe and drums, china and porcelain painting, and polo.

"It's not just a house you're selling — it's a lifestyle," she said.

The Villages was named last year's top-selling master-planned community in the U.S. with 2,307 home sales, according to John Burns Real Estate Consulting. The retiree community that sprawls across Lake, Marion and Sumter counties also topped the home-sales chart with 2,208 homes in 2010.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 miles to the northwest, many newcomers to Williston are living in cars, recreational vehicles and mobile-home camps built by employers because of a housing shortage, said Chris Jundt, president of the Williston Area Chamber of Commerce.

Located near the Canadian border, Williston is one of many small cities in North Dakota grappling with rapid growth from the oil-drilling boom. The city and the rest of Williams County added 1,976 residents between 2010 and 2011, bringing its population to 24,374, the Census Bureau reported.

Unable to secure housing, the workers, mostly blue-collar and middle-class men, are coming from all corners of the country without their families, Jundt said. They need the jobs at the oil rigs, which can pay $20 to $25 an hour for entry level, he added.

"Most of them have fallen on hard times...This is an opportunity to pick themselves up," he said. But it's labor-intensive. Some work 10 to 12 hours a day for two weeks straight before taking any days off, he added.

"We have golf courses," Jundt said. "But that's not what they're doing. They're working as hard as they can."